To have a healthy, attractive, and balanced physique, all muscle groups should be in good shape, especially the upper body.
For a long time, the idea spread that women should limit themselves to exercising their legs, glutes, and abs.
Whether due to prejudice or a lack of information, some people believe that doing isolated upper-body exercises can cause women to develop excessive muscles.
That isn’t true. In this article, we’ll talk about the importance of upper-body training for women’s muscle growth.
Benefits of upper-body training
These days, there is definitely a trend toward exercises focused on the lower body, especially the gluteus maximus.
Although lower-body training has many benefits, the upper body shouldn’t be neglected as part of a well-designed and balanced training program.
There are many other benefits to building and maintaining a well-trained upper body that go beyond aesthetics.
Improves posture
A strong, well-trained back is essential for good posture. Many people lead sedentary lives, whether they’re bending down to look at a computer, sitting at a desk, or behind the wheel of a car all day.
As a result, most people experience an even greater imbalance. The chest muscles tighten, the back muscles weaken, and the shoulders move forward (this condition is called kyphosis).
Strengthening the back muscles helps improve posture. It can also improve core strength (the core is made up of the abdominal, lower-back, pelvic, and hip muscles) and help your body sit properly.
Boosts your metabolism
Strength training for the upper-body muscles can boost your metabolism. And combining this training with a calorie-controlled diet is a great way to get rid of excess body fat, making you look leaner and more toned.
Many women think that upper-body training doesn’t burn calories. Although it burns fewer calories than lower-body training… it still burns a considerable amount!
Improves your leg workout results
You start training your upper body regularly, your torso becomes stronger and more resilient, and you get rid of the postural aches and pains of everyday life. What happens next?
With a stronger upper body, you can train your lower body with greater intensity and safety to get better results.
It’s the ripple effect of training all parts of the body in harmony.
You may be wondering what your back, chest, arm, and shoulder workouts have to do with glute training. The answer: everything!
The best exercises for building your glutes and legs are compound movements, such as squats, stiff-legged deadlifts, leg presses, deadlifts, and lunges…
And in many of them, you use your hands to hold the bar or rest it on your back…
So, if you don’t have strength in your arms, forearms, and back, you won’t be able to lift a substantial load to build your lower-body muscles.
Take the stiff-legged deadlift, for example… Anyone who does stiff-legged deadlifts knows this… It’s one of the best exercises for the glutes and hamstrings, but it depends heavily on a good grip and a strong torso. After a few reps, your forearms and wrists start to complain, right? And maybe your lower back does too (a little or a lot).
That’s all because your upper-body muscles aren’t being strengthened, or at least not in the same way as your leg and glute muscles.
And please, don’t tell me you don’t want to look “masculine.” That won’t happen, especially because of the hormonal differences between men and women. Women produce about 20 times less testosterone than men… rest assured, none of you will look masculine! Quite the opposite… you’ll get fit and muscular!
Conclusion
Women, don’t skip upper-body training! The main reason: when a person gains muscle mass, their basal metabolic rate increases—that’s the number of calories their body naturally burns at rest—because the body needs energy to maintain a certain amount of muscle mass.
This way, your daily calorie expenditure increases and, consequently, you’ll have more success reducing body fat. It’s that simple. And that’s not even counting the aesthetic benefits… a balanced physique is one developed evenly!
And… training your upper body helps you build beautiful legs and glutes!
With this information, have I convinced you to pay more attention to your upper-body training? Leave your opinion in the comments and #VEMPROTREINO!
